Adam Torkildson

Thanks, Charles. Great to be here.

Thanks, Charles. Great to be here.

Thanks, Charles. Great to be here.

I had the opportunity to go to college basically for free. And so that opened up a lot of opportunities. And I chose journalism to get my degree. And I worked at the newsroom in the newspaper. And I got my first taste of publishing on the internet. And this was about 20 years ago. So 2004, 2005. And

I had the opportunity to go to college basically for free. And so that opened up a lot of opportunities. And I chose journalism to get my degree. And I worked at the newsroom in the newspaper. And I got my first taste of publishing on the internet. And this was about 20 years ago. So 2004, 2005. And

I had the opportunity to go to college basically for free. And so that opened up a lot of opportunities. And I chose journalism to get my degree. And I worked at the newsroom in the newspaper. And I got my first taste of publishing on the internet. And this was about 20 years ago. So 2004, 2005. And

I loved how easy it was to just publish other people's works because I wasn't the one writing most of it. I was just sort of interning and helping with publishing. But I was learning how to write at the time. And so these two skills of publishing on the internet and writing led me to, when I graduated, my first job straight out of college was at SEO.com.

I loved how easy it was to just publish other people's works because I wasn't the one writing most of it. I was just sort of interning and helping with publishing. But I was learning how to write at the time. And so these two skills of publishing on the internet and writing led me to, when I graduated, my first job straight out of college was at SEO.com.

I loved how easy it was to just publish other people's works because I wasn't the one writing most of it. I was just sort of interning and helping with publishing. But I was learning how to write at the time. And so these two skills of publishing on the internet and writing led me to, when I graduated, my first job straight out of college was at SEO.com.

And I was able to take a little bit of what I've learned in college. And then I learned a ton of stuff on the job at SEO.com. We call it the Wild West days of SEO. And you couldn't learn SEO any other way than on the job. They didn't teach it in colleges. And most people didn't even know what it was. And I was a brand new 21-year-old.

And I was able to take a little bit of what I've learned in college. And then I learned a ton of stuff on the job at SEO.com. We call it the Wild West days of SEO. And you couldn't learn SEO any other way than on the job. They didn't teach it in colleges. And most people didn't even know what it was. And I was a brand new 21-year-old.

And I was able to take a little bit of what I've learned in college. And then I learned a ton of stuff on the job at SEO.com. We call it the Wild West days of SEO. And you couldn't learn SEO any other way than on the job. They didn't teach it in colleges. And most people didn't even know what it was. And I was a brand new 21-year-old.

publishing content for huge Fortune 100 brands, Dell and Alpha Graphics. And they probably had no clue what I was doing for them most of the time. They just cared that their computers or their printing processes ranked high in Google. That's literally all they cared about. We could do whatever we wanted. And so we did. And I had a lot of fun doing a lot of black hat stuff.

publishing content for huge Fortune 100 brands, Dell and Alpha Graphics. And they probably had no clue what I was doing for them most of the time. They just cared that their computers or their printing processes ranked high in Google. That's literally all they cared about. We could do whatever we wanted. And so we did. And I had a lot of fun doing a lot of black hat stuff.

publishing content for huge Fortune 100 brands, Dell and Alpha Graphics. And they probably had no clue what I was doing for them most of the time. They just cared that their computers or their printing processes ranked high in Google. That's literally all they cared about. We could do whatever we wanted. And so we did. And I had a lot of fun doing a lot of black hat stuff.

And black hat is just an industry term for cheating your way to the top. And I know all those tricks. And I used every single one of them. Which led me to understand that Google, the search engine Google, but also the company Google, had so much impact economically on everyone's business. Google has that much of an impact. They drive 68% of all traffic. This is a stat I looked up last month.

And black hat is just an industry term for cheating your way to the top. And I know all those tricks. And I used every single one of them. Which led me to understand that Google, the search engine Google, but also the company Google, had so much impact economically on everyone's business. Google has that much of an impact. They drive 68% of all traffic. This is a stat I looked up last month.

And black hat is just an industry term for cheating your way to the top. And I know all those tricks. And I used every single one of them. Which led me to understand that Google, the search engine Google, but also the company Google, had so much impact economically on everyone's business. Google has that much of an impact. They drive 68% of all traffic. This is a stat I looked up last month.

So Google still has a gigantic share of pushing business to whoever wants to be on the internet. So... I thought, you know, that's a great place to do work is in that space where Google is such a big player. And if you know kind of how Google works, then you can make a lot of money. And you could also manipulate it and scam people in the same way.

So Google still has a gigantic share of pushing business to whoever wants to be on the internet. So... I thought, you know, that's a great place to do work is in that space where Google is such a big player. And if you know kind of how Google works, then you can make a lot of money. And you could also manipulate it and scam people in the same way.